843) the defects in the French system have
gotten worse.]

[Footnote 6382: In England and in the United States the architect
and engineer produce more than we do with greater pliancy, fertility,
originality and boldness of invention, with a practical capacity at
least equal and without having passed six, eight or ten years in purely
theoretical studies.--Cf. Des Rousiers, "La Vie Americaine," p. 619:
"Our polytechnicians are scientific erudites.... The American engineer
is not omniscient as they were, he is special." "But, in his specialty
he has profound knowledge; he is always trying to make it more perfect
by additions, and he does more than the polytechnician to advance his
science" or his art. (Since Taine noted this times have changed; I once
put my 3 older sons into the American school in Bangkok (in 1972),
and not only did they not learn anything during their year there, they
actually lost some of their reading and writing skills and I had to
remove them as soon as I could. (SR.)).]

[Footnote 6383: In 1889 a law called Freycinet, France introduced 3
years of military service for all young men. Students and married men
were, subject to certain conditions, released after one year of service.
(SR.)]

[Footnote 6384: To facilitate his or her comprehension the reader
might replace the word Jacobin with the expression Socialist, Marxist,
national-socialist or Communist since they are all heirs to the
heritage left by the French Revolutionaries. (SR.)]

[Footnote 6385: IIIrd Republique lasted from 14-9-1870 until 13-7-1940.
(SR.)]

[Footnote 6386: Instruction is good, not in itself, but through the good
it does, and especially to those who possess or acquire it. If, simply
by raising his finger, a man could enable every French man or woman to
read Virgil readily and demonstrate Newton's binomial theory, this man
would be dangerous and ought to have his hands tied; for, should he
inadvertently raise his finger, manual labor would be repugnant and, in
a year or two, become almost impossible in France.]

[Footnote 6387: And so it happened. After the second world war, when
international Marxism became installed its agents throughout the Western
world, compulsory, unified education was pushed from the age of 14 to
16 and a majority of young remained in school till after their 18th
birthday, an education which successfully made them believe that the
attitudes and values they were taught were the only valid ones. (SR.